With the approval of a New York bankruptcy court, a group of retired Delta pilots has reached an agreement with the airline’s creditors to provide an estimated $820 million to cover pensions that had been threatened by the airline’s bankruptcy.
The agreement means that between 3,100 and 3,200 members of the Delta Pilots’ Pension Preservation Organization Inc. (DP3) will be able to collect on pension guarantees that were placed in jeopardy when the airline terminated its pension plan in September with the court’s approval. In November, Delta reached an agreement with its 6,000-strong force of current pilots guaranteeing $2.2 billion in pension funds, to be administered by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
